Republicans Troll Democrats With Looped Videos Around the Capitol and White House

Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying a new tactic in their quest to end the government shutdown that began at midnight on Wednesday: annoying Democrats with loud, looped videos played on mobile flat-screen television sets.

House Republican leadership rolled one of the TVs to the Capitol’s west terrace for a Wednesday morning press conference, where it played a one-minute loop of past statements by Democrats about government shutdowns.

“It is not normal to shut down the government when we don’t get what we want,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says repeatedly in the video.

“If the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is shown saying.

“This shutdown, you know who’s going to feel the pain? You know who it hurts?” Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley is shown saying later. “You.”

The video shared to social media by Speaker Mike Johnson on Sept. 22 is a compilation of Democrats talking about government shutdowns “in their own words,” according to the video.

The White House played a pair of deepfake AI-generated videos in the press briefing room Wednesday, including one of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero and an oversized mustache. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Alex Brandon/AP

The TV was then wheeled across the Capitol, where it continued to play the video throughout Wednesday. A similar video played in the White House briefing room.

“Under President Biden, Democrats insisted we must keep the government open. Now under President Trump they’re saying the opposite,” Johnson wrote on X. “Last week every single House Democrat but one voted to SHUT DOWN the government.”

The video still played on Capitol Hill in the hallway outside the arched entrance to Johnson’s office as of about 5 p.m. Wednesday. Johnson’s office created the video, a staff member told NOTUS. The office did not respond to questions about the video’s purpose.

The Capitol was largely empty of its usual tourists Wednesday in light of the shutdown, but Capitol Police guarding Johnson’s office were present to hear the video. One officer told NOTUS it had been playing on a loop since Tuesday evening.

The White House staff played a similar video, “Democrat Shutdown: Democrats’ In Their Own Words,” on a pair of flat screens in the briefing room Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, to the chagrin of many reporters who work there.

The volume of the video fluctuated Wednesday, at times becoming so loud it was impossible to ignore. Some reporters grumbled, and at least one person asked for the video to be turned off. NOTUS asked the White House Press Office about the purpose of playing the video in the briefing room, where reporters would exclusively hear it.

“Democrats shut down the government and are holding the American people hostage over their radical policy demands like free health care for illegal aliens,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told NOTUS. “But they know their shutdown is hurting the American people; just listen to them explain it in their own words!”

By Wednesday afternoon, the sound of a mariachi band crept through the briefing room speakers until the same flatscreen televisions flickered on, showing two deepfake AI-generated videos: one of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero and an oversized mustache, and one of Schumer saying that Democrats were trying to find new voters.

Reporters and photographers scurried to the briefing room to capture the trolling. Then some retreated outside to avoid the noise.

Trump first posted the AI-generated clip of Jeffries in a sombrero Monday after his meeting with congressional leadership. After Jeffries, Schumer and other Democrats expressed outrage at the message, Trump doubled down on the strategy, posting several similar clips throughout the week.

When asked about the videos at Wednesday’s press briefing, Vice President JD Vance made a pledge that the administration would stop mocking Democrats with the crude clips once the government reopens.

“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, ‘I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop,’” Vance said.